The MLS has just announced the 2012 Expansion Draft Date and procedure via a news release via its MLS Press Box website. You can read the details of the press release at this link and the complete list of the Expansion Draft Rules at this link.

The 2012 MLS Expansion Draft will be held on Wednesday, November 23, at 2 p.m. ET, via conference call. It’s not your fame and drama of the NFL draft but a very important step for the MLS, espcially for newcomer the Montreal Impact.

The procedures and rules will be explained in more details in a future article so stay tuned for more.

In 35 days, we will find out what 10 players will the Montreal Impact select from the other MLS teams players not part of their protected-roster.

Yes, you guessed it right: its European Football CL preview ”Spain version” brought to you by a smiling young John Barnes!!…Thank you John for that smile and your skills but the videogame..euuuh…ya thanks. 🙂

Spain

Real Madrid

Real Madrid will play Ajax on the second day of Champions League fixtures. Many experts say that Real Madrid should crush Ajax and looking at the Merengue squad, it’s hard to say otherwise. Playing a Mourinhesque 4-2-3-1, the club has not been playing very well but still manages to win thanks to exceptional individual talent that make the difference against weaker teams. Teams in their second year under Mourinho’s reign usually do much better than the previous year and sky rocket from there. Stories around the club hint at some sort of ”beef” between Mourinho and his star Spanish players. The Special One seems to have a problem with Alonso, Ramos and Casillas not playing his game of hate and disrecpect against FC Barcelona. It’s the whole Star Wars Trilogy going on less than 1 month into the 2011-2012 season.

FC Barcelona

On the other side, FC Barcelona is not taking a break as they prepare for Champions League action against a humble BATE Borisov with a 5-0‎ annilhilation of Atletico Madrid. There isnt much to say as a preview but just to advise fantasy players to stock up on Barcelona players for this round of the Champions League.

Valencia CF

Coming off a 1-0 loss to Sevilla FC at home, Valencia will face English and Champions League giants, Chelsea FC. This game will have a special storyline with the return of Juan Mata to the club he just left, earlier this summer. Chelsea has a squad depth to instil into its opponents but Valencia has offensive assets and defensive stability to stake its claim. With an under-rated Soldado, an improving Mathieu or a dynamic Rami, Valencia coach Unai Emery has many weapons at his disposition to realistically dare to win.

Last week ‘s 2-0 victory over Evian Thonon Gaillard FC did not seem bring luck to L’OM after a 1-1 draw against Valenciennes with the tying goal in the 93rd minute. That tie was only made possible with a great performance from OM goalkeeper Steve Mandanda. Fans have voiced their concerns on their team’s lacklustre performances but Didier Deschamps’ credibility seems to buy some time for the club. But one impression lingers at the Velodrome: the more OM plays, the worse it gets.

On the pitch, Lucho Gonzalez has been placed deeper in the midfield as a number 8, a position that seems to fit his style of play. But for the past 2 games, that experience did not seem very conclusive as per the results but Lucho’s natural position has never and will never a number 10 aka ‘’the playmaker’’.

The astonishing conclusion still stands: In a sea of boring football, Lucho still looked as the best OM player against Valenciennes or shall we say the least worse outside Steve Mandanda. Yet again, we realize the total lack of support around Lucho which makes run more with the ball instead of distributing it. The only player that is able to make intelligent runs and choices is Loic Remy, even though he misses a 1-on-1 to try to make it 2-0. We will not forget that the OM was hindered by Fanni’s arguable red card after mistakenly head butting his friend Foued Kadir.

Is it time for Marseille to go for a 4-4-2 and try to play Remy and Jordan Ayew? Is that even a feasible choice with a coach that is looking more for security than style in a very difficult?

Let’s look at a couple of Marseille’s recruits and how they are performing until now

A.Diarra: totally lost in the midfield. He seems unable to control a ball, pivot and deliver a decent pas.

Amalfitano: Playing in Marseille is not the same as playing in Lorient. But the jury is not out on him yet. I am convinced that Amalfitano will do well in 2-3 months as he is still looking for his rhythm.

Morel: LM or LB. He does not have the caliber to be OM’s LB but saving money was of the essence when Morel was recruited. He still is a smart player but lacks a lot in defensive awareness and offensive flair for a club that plays the title every year and is in the Champions League.

For both Morel and Amalfitano, they would need more time. But Marseille is not a city where time is a luxury as you need to perform right away with no breathing room off and on the pitch.

The scary thought is that OM will be playing an important Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund, another club in difficulty in its own league. Even if Dortmund does not have the results, the yellow canaries have been playing good football and have not relinquished their offensive style. A positive note for Marseille is that they are not favorites in the game and usually do well as the underdog.

Montreal Impact won the last game of the regular season with a 4-0 victory over the Atlanta Silverbacks, in Atlanta. Unfortunately a Minnesota victory over Carolina denied the Montreal Impact from making the 2011 NASL playoffs. A hat trick from Ryan Pore, who has been a clutch player, was not enough as the Montreal club did not have its destiny in its own hands.

Moving away from the negative cloud of a non-playoff season, the 2011 NASL season has seen its ups and downs in Montreal. From the resignation of young promising coach Marc-Andre Santos, a string of losses and draws, to the naming of the new future MLS coach Jesse Marsch, Montreal has made and ridden its own roller-coaster.

On the positive side, the fans of the Impact have had the chance to see some players that came in with some MLS experience, a sort of preview of things to come. Saputo Stadium has had the honor to be home to the Balkan genius Sinisa Ubiparipovic , the latin flair of young Montano and the intelligent and intense Ryan Pore.

It’s now time for MLS preparation headed by Nick De Sanctis, Matt Jordan and Jesse Marsch. This work will involve scouting older and younger players, organising mini-camps to evaluate current squad and potential try-outs. The Soccer Operations team will go through rolodexes , SMS, videos to watch and re-watch,scouting reports to skim through and many games to attend. These steps are vital in the Montreal Impact preparation for the 2012 Expansion Draft and SuperDraft. How you draft, whom you draft, whom you sign as a Designated Player, how you use your allocation money are all part of many steps towards the building of a MLS franchise.

Montreal is honoured to be part of the MLS and the MLS is honoured to welcome Montreal. Other MLS fans will have the chance to see and discover the passion of soccer in Montreal, a passion that group of supporters like the ”Ultras Montreal” will be able to claim as their own against The Sons of Ben of Philadelphia or the Timbers Army of Portland.

After a 1-0 defeat at the hand of the Fort Lauderdale strikers, the Montreal Impact and its fans are seeing the symbolic playoff boat start to leave port. But thanks to a 2-1 win of FC Tampa Bay against the NSC Minnesota Stars, destiny might have a sense of humor and a feel for drama, keeping the Impact 4 points away from a playoff spot.

Putting that aside, the Montreal Impact, the MLS club, is still in process of building itself as the current NASL season is going on. Jesse Marsch, the Impact’s MLS head coach, is probably not spending his days planning with Nick De Sanctis the day to day operations of the 1st team in the NASL. As much as Jesse Marsch is observing current Impact players, he is closely working with Matt Jordan and Nick De Sanctis on the soccer operations side of the club.

Reports have said that Matt Jordan has recently gone on a scouting trip in the US to watch Louisville, North Carolina, Cal. Santa Barbara, NC State, Duke and Wake Forest. Regular meetings and reports must be ongoing within the Impact’s technical team to prepare to its MLS entry with the important Expansion Draft and Super Draft. One can argue that the Expansion draft might be even more important as it should set most of the club’s starting 11 or at least a big chunk of the core 13 to 16 players that most coaches rely on. The advantage of having coach Marsch within an organization is that he will be bringing all of his US Soccer experience and networks of contacts, scouting reports, scouts; all within reach to the Montreal Impact.

What is Jesse Marsch’s soccer ‘’philosophy’’ per say? How will the flow work within the technical team to find consensus from how a team should play to how much allocation money should be spent? How will this ‘’technical flow’’ merge itself with the coaching staff and vice versa?

Many of these questions will stay unanswered until the next important first steps of the Montreal Impact – MLS version and some will probably stay unanswered. One thing for sure, as much as we are focused on the 2011 NASL season, is to never forget: Major League Soccer is on its way.

As per LFP’s website , Spain’s Professional Football League, ”AFE and LFP fail to reach agreement”. I invite you to read the full statement from the LFP that seems to show frustration and total denial of any wrong doing.

The La Liga’s First day has been cancelled which was supposed to run from August 20th to August 22nd 2011. More details on the reason of the labor dispute to come in a new post later today.

We see a total lack of respect towards referees at the amateur level, something that we also see at the pro level with committees of players that force referees to backtrack as they are pushed by players and to have to justify themselves for every whistle blown. The referee defends himself very well et finishes off with a great run to get away and hop climbs the wall..let’s hope that he has nothing to hide